Book Reviews

Acta Botanica Hungarica 53(3–4), pp. 441–449, 2011 DOI: 10.1556/ABot.53.2011.3–4.22 BOOK REVIEWS Editor: K. T. KISS ABBOTT, B. F. M. (2009): Checklist of the lichens and lichenicolous fungi of Greece. – Bibliotheca Lichenologica, Band 103. J. Cramer in der Gebrüder Borntraeger Verlags- buchhandlung, Berlin, Stuttgart, 368 pp. (ISBN 978–3–443–58082–7). The back cover mentions “… results from over 2,000 years of investigations into Greek lichens …”. This is a very promising advertisement of the volume! The reader may expect an entire treatment of all studies ever carried out in lichenology in Greece. And indeed, there is a detailed chapter of 21 pages on “History of lichenology in Greece” which covers first of all the development of floristical knowledge on lichens. Publications by recent Greek authors are mainly on the applied fields (bioindication, monitoring of heavy metal, sulphur dioxide, dust or radioactive pollution) following 1990s. It is also worth mentioning lichen chemistry, first of all the studies on carotenoids based on Greek lichens and the colouring effects of lichen substances on artificially coloured monuments. Of course the first step is to know the organisms what is available in Greece for lichenological studies. The author con- centrated on the taxa of lichenised and lichenicolous fungi ever mentioned in literature from Greece. In this way he intended to compile the possibly most precise recent inventory of taxa. As a result 1296 species (and infraspecific taxa) are accepted by him listing another 169 taxa awaiting for confirmation. Under the names mentioned there are very useful anno- tations concerning mostly to geographical distribution, taxonomy or nomenclature. The author carried out his own field studies at 58 sites visited in the province Peloponnese. These represent the most recent data (from 1999 up to now) published in the volume. A list of synonyms follows the list of species. A title to it – also included in the contents (pp. 264–304) – would have been practical to add. The chapter “List of Greek place names” consists of explanations on sites and useful notes on transliterating and spelling names of classical and modern Greek language. Literature sources seen (on 17 pages) and not seen (on 2 pages) by the author are separated into two lists expressing that some data might need 0236–6495/$ 20.00 © 2011 Akadémiai Kiadó, Budapest 442 BOOK REVIEWS revision in future, however the number of such publications is very low compared to the amount of literature studied altogether. On the basis of the available literature and own field studies, the author estimates the lichen flora of Greece as exceeding the species number 1500, which seems to be a correct, or even a rather careful estimation. Several of the islands never have been investigated for their lichens, others are very unevenly collected, just as large areas are known from a few popular collection sites (e.g. Mt Olympus) only. There is a lot more to do in lichenology in Greece. The current checklist is obviously a great help for those who are going to discover the still unknown parts of this country for their lichens and lichenicolous fungi. E. FARKAS BATES, S. T., BUNGARTZ, F., LÜCKING, R., HERRERA-CAMPOS, M. A. and ZAMBRANO,A. (eds) (2011): Biomonitoring, ecology and systematics of lichens. – Bibliotheca Liche- nologica, Band 106. J. Cramer in der Gebrüder Borntraeger Verlagsbuchhandlung, Stuttgart, 442 pp. (ISBN 978–3–443–58085–8). Thomas Hawkes Nash III has worked on lichenology especially on lichen ecology, ecophysiology for 40 years. He is probably the best known about the following books edited by him: “Lichen biology” or the “Lichen flora of the Greater Sonoran Desert Region I–III”. On the occasion of the 65th anniversary of his birth a special volume containing 33 papers by 70 authors (!) is dedicated to him. Bennett established high Cu concentration in lichens growing in protected areas in S-Arizona. Howe and Lendemer studied a recolonised lichen community near a former zinc smelter. Riddell et al. followed changes in lichen composition and cover due to declin- ing air quality in S-California. The effect of pine oak forest management was studied on lichens in Mexico by Pérez Pérez et al. McCune and Printzen analysed distribution and climatic niches of Lecanora varia group in western USA. Rosentreter and Debolt compared the lichen flora and environmental conditions for lichens in Florida and Arizona. The rela- tion between distribution and change between various environmental changes was investigated by Will-Wolf et al. in Wisconsin, USA. All the other papers are on taxonomy and systematics covering altogether large taxonomic fields (30 genera, among them 2 new for science: Malmidea for Lecidea piperis group, Trinathotrema for Ocellularia stictidea and Co- notrema lumbricoides) and geographical areas (from the Cape Verde via the Kerguelen Is- lands, Chile, Australia to S-Africa). It is difficult to choose the most interesting examples of the 35 new species, like the lichen Caloplaca tomnashii and the lichenicolous fungus Licheno- chora hyperphysciae or the lichenicolous lichen Acarospora nashii. For such a high number of new taxa, a list would have been useful to add to the volume. Also, an index for all the names would be important for an easier handling of the enormous amount of data gathered in the volume. Concerning to the wide range of topics, the volume is also very rich in meth- ods applied from standard to fluorescence microscopy or those of mathematical statistics or molecular biology, various programs for climatic modelling and phylogenetic analysis were also used. The volume contains 16 excellent colour plates illustrating seven papers. Unfortu- nately from the legends of the colour plates the indications about the paper where the plate is belonging to are missing. Publications by Thomas Nash are listed on 14 pages. These are between 1971 and 2010 (some are missing, e.g. those in Bibliotheca Lichenologica 105, 2010), however we need to Acta Bot. Hung. 53, 2011.

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